Intentions to Marry, 1925 Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840531, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1925 is bound in eight volumes (a to h) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1925d contains pages 1357-1784, covering districts from Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Page 1363

District of Dannevirke Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar R. B. Martin

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

8 May 1925

Frederick Keen
Irene Grace Grant

Frederick Keen
Irene Grace Grant
💍 1925/4595

Widower
Spinster

Tobacconist
Domestic Duties

29
18

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

3 years
Life

Mrs Choti's residence, Tepapakuku, Dannevirke

4399

Robert Grant, Father

8 May 1925

Rev. H. Daniel, Methodist

No	22
Date of Notice	8 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Keen	Irene Grace Grant
	💍 1925/4595
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Tobacconist	Domestic Duties
Age	29	18
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	3 years	Life
Marriage Place	Mrs Choti's residence, Tepapakuku, Dannevirke
Folio	4399
Consent	Robert Grant, Father
Date of Certificate	8 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Daniel, Methodist

13 May 1925

Samuel Isaac Sherrard
Margaret Eileen Fraser

Samuel Isaac Sherrard
Margaret Eileen Fraser
💍 1925/4596

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
21

Pongaroa
Weber

Life
2 years

Roman Catholic Presbytery, Dannevirke

4400

13 May 1925

Rev. T. Guinan, Roman Catholic

No	23
Date of Notice	13 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Isaac Sherrard	Margaret Eileen Fraser
	💍 1925/4596
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Pongaroa	Weber
Length of Residence	Life	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Dannevirke
Folio	4400
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Guinan, Roman Catholic

16 May 1925

Albert Walter Ericksen
Eliza Bella Johnstone

Albert Walter Ericksen
Eliza Bella Johnstone
💍 1925/4604

Bachelor
Spinster

Herd Testing
Domestic Duties

25
23

Dannevirke
Raumati

6 years
25 years

Presbyterian Church, Dannevirke

4401

16 May 1925

Rev. J. T. Macky, Presbyterian

No	24
Date of Notice	16 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Walter Ericksen	Eliza Bella Johnstone
	💍 1925/4604
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Herd Testing	Domestic Duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Raumati
Length of Residence	6 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dannevirke
Folio	4401
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Macky, Presbyterian

21 May 1925

George Henry Mabbett
Eva Matilda Sorensen

George Henry Mabbett
Eva Matilda Sorensen
💍 1925/4615

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

51
34

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

13 months
20 years

House of Mrs Lloyd, 14 Miller St, Dannevirke

4402

23 May 1925

Rev. G. B. Stephenson, Church of England

No	25
Date of Notice	21 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Mabbett	Eva Matilda Sorensen
	💍 1925/4615
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	51	34
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	13 months	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Lloyd, 14 Miller St, Dannevirke
Folio	4402
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Stephenson, Church of England

26 May 1925

Wilfred Stanley Thompson
Elsie Sarah Bond

Wilfred Stanley Thompson
Elsie Sarah Bond
💍 1925/4622

Bachelor
Spinster

Lorry Driver
Domestic Duties

30
24

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

4 years
6 years

Presbyterian Church, Dannevirke

4403

26 May 1925

Rev. J. T. Macky, Presbyterian

No	26
Date of Notice	26 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Stanley Thompson	Elsie Sarah Bond
	💍 1925/4622
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lorry Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	4 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dannevirke
Folio	4403
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Macky, Presbyterian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).